


How Far

by thecuriositycore



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dark Ringabel, Death of main characters, Gen, No Dialogue, Not every Ringabel is a good guy, Self-Harm, and not for the usual reasons one harms themself, but only a very small amount, guess who does it, just a drabble for now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 20:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecuriositycore/pseuds/thecuriositycore
Summary: Sometimes - only rarely, but sometimes - the darkness gets to a certain orphan boy before he's saved from a life of poverty. Sometimes that darkness stays with him, regardless of what his new family tries to do to help. Sometimes his friends can't help either. And the Dark Knight asterisk is not one that's safe to use when you're already drowning.





	How Far

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to a song done in a minor key, one that is usually happy and energetic, and it sounded dark, as though from the perspective of a villain. Thus, I got this idea. It didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, but my friend loved it, so I'll post it here and see what the rest of you think. Just a drabble, short and hopefully fun. Might get more if I ever feel like it, but most likely in the form of more drabbles rather than dedicated chapters.  
> But yes, either way, I hope you enjoy this short little drabble~!
> 
> TCC

Airy hadn’t stopped him. He didn’t know when she’d picked up on his true nature - perhaps at the start, she was cleverer than she pretended to be - but even once she knew his plans she didn’t bother to stop him. 

He and her wanted almost the same thing. She wanted to serve her master, and him? He just wanted to make the world suffer. It had left _him_ to suffer, back in Florem. Back when he was feeding on sand and dirty water just to make his stomach stop feeling like it was trying to turn itself inside out. Back when he robbed anyone who seemed unaware enough for him to get that close.

Any other Ringabel would realize that, unlike his namesakes across the worlds, this one’s anger had drowned him. He hadn’t listened to the man that had adopted him, not one word had broken the shell. Or, repaired it, rather. Power and an entire childhood’s worth of hate and bitterness was a strong combination, and so the asterisk had snatched him up and utterly drowned him in it’s depths. There was a reason the things weren’t something just any warrior had.

But he didn’t see any of it, only saw anger. 

It would make things take longer, Airy had said, but she didn’t stop him. Didn’t keep him from leading Agnes away into the night on a night when the fog was thick, under guise of wanting to speak with her about something. Agnes was kind to a fault, was blind to Airy and was blind to him. She’d reacted with the expected concern when he’d slashed himself open - Airy’s eyes shining with anticipation behind her as the fairy watched, Ringabel slicing a gash into his chest and cutting Agnes down with a minus strike as she rushed towards him, a cura spell already growing in her outstretched hands. 

Of course, he hadn’t expected the country boy to follow along, hadn’t expected him to be close enough to see him kill her.  Perhaps he’d been suspicious. 

It had been Airy to warn him of Tiz’s nearness, Airy that had chased him down, flickering and glowing and giving away his every motion and attempt to hide. She was small and light and quick, hard for Tiz to even hope to hit, glittering and shining be damned. Made it easy for Ringabel to follow even after the young boy had gotten a head start; Ringabel had to fix himself up with a spell and a potion, after all.

Tiz had managed to make it all the way back to camp by the time Ringabel had reached them, but not enough to wake the heavily-sleeping Edea. Not in time, at least. Black Bane, followed by a Minus Strike. Ringabel had enough time then to jump on top of the boy, muffling his cries as he took him down as well. 

The sound had woken Edea, though - Edea who would rise at the sound of fighting rather than yelling, of _course_.   
She stared at him, at the blood on his armor and the dead boy at his feet. Ringabel, helmet off, stared back - a pointedly casual look on his face as Airy fluttered about around him, singing something about sacrifices for her master; minion, power, pawns, and the like. He didn’t care. His Asterisk had eaten him far too long ago for him to care anymore.

He couldn’t help but find the hurt, utterly betrayed look on her face to be divine. Relished the idea of her realizing this person she thought she knew to be somebody else entirely. Somebody dark, darker than his asterisk of choice should ever have been.   
It was the asterisk, she’d begged. The thing taking hold of his mind in a way that was dangerous - she was right of course, but he didn’t hear it. He wasn’t the same as his namesakes in the other worlds. There was no friendly father figure to pull him out in time, to draw him back into the light before his anger could drag him too far down. This one had been lost long ago.

She didn’t try to fight him - defended herself, certainly, but seeing his face had made it hard, clearly. Tiz’s body nearby, Agnes’ somewhere in the woods, Airy singing about her master overhead - it was easy to take her down. Whittle her energy away until she dropped, until he could walk up to her and hold her down, slowly strangle the life out of her as he grinned softly. 

He didn’t have a reason for it. They had nothing to do with his past, nothing to do with the pain he’d endured at all. Tiz was a farmer from Caldisla, Agnes was little more than a priest trying to keep the crystals stable, and Edea was a warrior girl from a family that had treated him with nothing but kindness. This too, was something that didn’t reach him. 

Ringabel had leaned in close as the life left her body, whispering how he’d ruin it all. Make them suffer. She would die in despair - with Airy still dancing mad circles in the air above them.

It would be hard to travel from one world to the next without Agnes, Airy had said. But she’d done it before, and so would do it again, her new friend in tow. Ringabel suspected this master she spoke so highly of didn’t think nearly so well of her, but if it let him ruin more lives, he’d press on with her. If it came down to it, he could betray her too, play the good man in at least one world and kill both her _and_ this master of hers. He wasn't fond of the idea of a 'master', anyways.


End file.
